Ok! Who is the league trying to kid? 16 players is a nightmare waiting to happen for all of the teams! Who wants to watch a pitch full of reserves and developmental players? With all of the tune ups, this will happen quite often this summer. Why doesn't the league quit trying to call WUSA the best league when it can't back it up. Teams are now bussing everywhere, going to the opposite coast the day before games, renting vans on away trips, asking staff and players to take pay cuts. First they make all these promises and then they try to take them back. WUSA should have never promised $85,000 to Webber, Whalen, Ducar, Fair, etc... Serves them right! Let’s have a glorified W-League until after the Olympics, because that is a month long road trip for many of our better players. What then? Come back with a new game plan and new commissioner. YES! Sorry Tone! You need someone who wants what's best for the league and Tony D. can't do that because he is friends with everybody. He is always worried about making the right decision because he might hurt Mia's feelings or his boy Hoffman last year, etc, etc.....Tons of examples..... What kind of league allows trades to be reversed because a player doesn't want to move, this is a pro league. Run it like one! They shouldn't be a pro athlete if they are not willing to take along what comes with it. That means being traded. A coach can't be worried to trade someone because they will threaten to retire! What a joke! Hey Ray, is it ok if you move to Seattle? Go back to the drawing board and come back strong after the Olympics. It will succeed! Just not under the current plan. Don't put an inferior product out there when you promise the best. Do it right!
Harsh... but sadly I agree with most of it. Despite all it's problems though, WUSA is still the best women's soccer league in the world, which gives you an idea of what it must be like elsewhere...
I should have probably said the WUSA has the best players in the world but are far from being the best run league in the world! They had a soccer league that they could have learned from (MLS), but chose to do it all their way. Well guess what, learning from the MLS mistakes might have helped WUSA! MLS-year 7/WUSA-year 4???? They had a model of what would work and what wouldn't work. Take advantage of that! Don't listen to Foudy and all the other clowns who were so opposed to learning from MLS. They could have worked together, but instead decided to go at it alone because they had the "best Players in the world" Unfortunately that doesn't translate into anything. No money, bad attendance, poor ratings, etc... You need the total package!!!
I totally agree with everyone on here. I think one of the biggest problems this league has had was their attitude from the beginning. They thought they were above MLS and wanted to have nothing to do with them. MLS could have helped them alot with cross promotion and so forth. Instead, all that was spouted was "unlike MLS we're the best league in the world" or Foudy's infamous quote" we're not gonna let MLS piggyback off our attendance". Newsflash folks mens soccer is much more popular than womens soccer. I think they bought into all the hype from the womens world cup and actually thought they would just be this huge,successful league on their own. Now that none of this happened everyone has their foot in their mouths especially Foudy.
Geez - I don't follow WUSA at all and just randomly noticed this thread. You make it sound like the league is on its last legs. Are things really that bad?
I don't share the Chicken Little, "The Sky is Falling" sentiments expressed in this thread, although they are to be expected. WUSA is a start-up league so, of course, it survives one year at a time, just as MLS has done. We've heard "the sky is falling" said about MLS many times, too, and MLS continues to prove the doom-sayers wrong. The funny thing is that WUSA repeated many of the mistakes that MLS made in it's first couple of years, and didn't seem to learn anything from them. BTW, the attribution of a particular quote to Foudy is almost certainly a fabrication, and an ancient one, at that. No one has ever produced any credible evidence that Foudy ever said it. That subject that has been beaten death many times already.
as trollish as this thread sounds i do share some of its views. the WUSA/MLS thing has always bugged me, i think both leagues would be MUCH better off together. The WUSA business model has reeked of unfairness inconstancy and even a lack of rules of player moves (just ask SD how they landed Latham and Kirk on how he could land someone in immigration limbo with him capped out on foreign players) I guess the league has no backbone and backed down on getting those RIDICLIOUS founders contracts out of here. What the league needs is a new investor to get the league to a successful business model...theyve done better, Morgan has made it so that they dont blow 80mm every year like that jokester allen did...i think Tony D should stick to soccer and give more control to crow over the rulebook and the like...The 16 player limit is garbage, there are better ways to cut cost more effectivly. the PAX deal ill live with for this year especally since it looks like they are trying to get a deal with the Duce. I think a pro womens soccer league can work...but lets face it, the WUSA has done all it can to fail, it draws a consistant fanbase, it has great players and they cant even FN MARKET THE PRODUCT! if the league dies, its only because of one thing and one thing only...MISMANAGEMENT.
Totally agree with the mismanagement statement. They need some quality business leadership. How else could they blow that much money yet most of the players make peanuts? I'm a blue collar factory worker and I make as much as some of those girls with college degrees! I wouldn't blame some of those players if they decided to pack it in and start a real career.
Thanks! That is exactly the point I'm trying to make. Well done g4m. How many have retired so far this off season? They are not making it a tough decision for these girls. Tony D. stick to coaching and "Soccer Plus Camps" which has to be some type of conflict with the league. Isn't he taking away from the league camps? Many are in the same areas..... Bring in a total business person to run the league. MLS brought in a Europe NFL person. Do the same thing for WUSA. No loyalties to anybody! Just the girls and league!
here are the 4 things that really get my goat 1. There dont seem to be many rules regarding players beyond that they have to be female, cant cut a founder, and you can only have 4 foreign players. The latham thing was a perfect example, the league itself didnt stand on if a college player had to be drafted or not, so they let this one incident slide and made the rule up as they went along. they face another controversy soon if hooper and Mak dont get green cards...even the rules they have are muddy, yanks have to run their course in college but you can bring in 19 year old foreigners? You know what burns me is the official rules of the WUSA "they do not differ from LOTG except for we enforce dissent and its only a yellow if you tackle from behind in the attacking 3rd." no concept of player rules elgibility (i saw alot of teams bringing in reserves at home who i thought werent promoted to actives thus giving their team 2 more players at home) they need some more official rules regarding the personell side...as NSA pointed out...if you follow LOTG purely you dont even need nets, just goalpoasts 2. Im still waiting to find out how you can be so fn incompent that you can blow 80mm in one year? 3. You have all stars left and right and international sensations and downright the best players in the world and you still bring WEBBER to FC2 because shes a founder. Market what you have not what you dont have. 4. Mia doth not the league make, she isnt even the best player in the league no more yet she is hyped to the opponents more than the home team...disrespectful and irresponsable, truth be known, mia as a commercial icon (not a person or player) has to be 3rd on the "if the league fails this is why" list Theyve made strides...Morgan is better than allen, but thats like saying Mao is better than Stalin just about. As for players leaving for real jobs, thats only part of the problem...im waiting for a top flight #1 draft NTer to say no to the league over pay, already happened on the foreign side with Lundenberg, its only a matter of time if the WUSA keeps going the way its going.
So if the WNBA fails can we put at #3 "Because they are pimping Sue Bird too much"? #4 can be "That damn Lisa Leslie has one too many articles written about her!" Nah...a league of any kind will fail cuz of much more important issues like $$$ and management. Not cuz some players name is mentioned on another teams website or article in a Philly paper.
You are presumably referring to the "We don't want MLS piggybacking off our atendances" quote - about as ridiculous a statement as I've ever heard. This quote was reported by Grant Wahl (or maybe Jeff Bradley) about three years ago in his regular column. The quote was attributed to a WUSA founding player, but the player was never named or hinted at. Of course, everyone just assumed it was Foudy - but we only know it was a US WWC 99 member.
Sorry, but let WUSSA go away...quietly. I would probably feel differently if they and MLS were working together to promote soccer as a whole. But their overall position has been in competition to MLS, even though the offer was there. I personally don't need it.
Like I've said before. Give it up until after the Olympics and Mia has gone into the sunset! Women's Pro Soccer will survive at some point, however, not under the current, arrogant, nose in the air, make up rules as whe go on, what would Mia think?, no integrity, having league! MLS is finally on stable grounds, come back and join them. They are trying to get soccer stadiums built, have rules that don't change for each particular player or situation. Imagine: Sat. double header at Gillette Stadium., San Jose and San Jose host the DC Teams! Talk about soccer Sat. No Tv conflicts, staff can be used for both, etc... Look, I've worked for both MLS and WUSA, and as bad as MLS was in terms of management WUSA is worse! Work together and and stop killing one another.
Speaking of Joe Cummings, he should run the league! He has the experience on every level of soccer in this country. He has put on many world events. World Cups, Gold Cups, etc... He can care less what people think of his decisions! He would steer the ship in the right direction!!!
Can anyone tell me why they believe that a woman's league in ANY sport will be financially successful? Has it ever happened before? I'm not talking about tennis or golf here because those are not team sports - but has any woman's league with a team sport ever prospered? I fail to think of any...
Great point. I don't think these problems have as much to do with poor management as they do with the public's lack of interest in womens team sports.
That is shallow thinking? How long have women's professional sports been around compared to men's? The NBA players were not mega rich when they started. They made paltry salaries compared to what they make now. It is a process gentleman. Give it time. Would women's soccer players all be millionaires if they were the one's granted the first opportunities in sports and men stayed at home in the kitchen. There is a lot of history to overcome here. If you have daughters, sisters, etc you can only hope this league and all the others get there chance to succeed.
Unfortunately you have to come to grips with the fact that money and sports are married today, for better or for worse. There is no longer a large window of time allowed for an investment to become profitable. The problem today is that today's female professional athletes expect to get a significant portion of the pie right from the get-go, and the men who built the soccer leagues in Europe or the NBA, NFL, etc. here, did it simply for the love of the game. Their passion is what created the lucrative nature of the men's games today. WNBA players are threatening player strikes. WUSA members refuse to be traded because it's "inconvenient." In order for the WUSA to survive, the players themselves will have to really sacrifice a lot just to play and do it for someone else at first, but I highly doubt that today's woman is willing to do that.
I believe the founders made financial sacrifices for the lower paid players. The lower paid players are only getting mid 20's if I am not mistaken. And, there are plenty of male athletes who demand trades or retire instead of relocate. Elvis Grbac retired from Baltimore rather than relocate two years ago. He was in his prime, just like Erica Iverson. As for strikes...how do you justify the baseball players who make lots of money threatening to strike every few years? You can't say that there league is filled with packed stadiums. A lot of teams lose money and they are pricing the fans out of the game. Every league threatens to strike. Why can't the women too?